The present invention relates to a print control apparatus and a printing apparatus, and specifically relates to such a print control apparatus and a printing apparatus that conduct operations for determining availability of an interruption printing and controlling the interruption printing in which another printing operation is implemented while making a currently conducted printing operation suspended.
With respect to the printing apparatus that is provided with a copying function, a printing function, etc., there has been well known an interruption printing function to be employed in such a case that another printing operation is wished to be implemented immediately in mid course of performing a certain printing operation or the like, so as to meet the needs of the user. According to this interruption printing function, when an “interruption button” is depressed, the printing apparatus accepts the interruption of the other printing operation by suspending the currently performing printing operation, and the concerned interruption printing is completed, the printing apparatus resume the printing operation temporarily suspended.
When the user who intends to interrupt the current printing operation is different from the other use who is to be interrupted, it is beneficial for the interrupting user since his own printing operation can be preferentially implemented, while the interrupted user is liable to suffer from such a unbeneficial fact that the preceding printing operation of his own ends up on the back-burner and as a result, the completion time is extended. Specifically, if a long-time consuming printing operation interrupts the printing operation currently implemented by the interrupted user, sometimes the time for waiting the completion of his own printing operation possibly becomes long, resulting in increase of detriment (loss time). However, On the other hand, when the interrupting user intends to make a relatively short-time printing operation having a high emergency degree (high priority) interrupt into the long-time consuming printing operation currently implemented, there has been such an advantage that the interrupting user can gain a privilege of this function.
Accordingly, it is desirable that the operations for controlling and determining availability of the interruption printing are implemented so as to optimize the beneficial balance between the interrupted user and the interrupting user. In order to achieve the abovementioned optimization, it is necessary to take into account such factors that includes a residual printing time to be consumed until the printing operation of the interrupted user is completed, a printing time to be consumed by the interrupting user, which directly relates to the detriment (loss time) of the interrupted user, and a degree of priority indicating whether the priority is given to the interrupting user or the interrupted user (degree of importance representing which is more important than the other), and it is desirable that the abovementioned optimization is comprehensively determined from the factors above-mentioned.
For instance, Tokkai 2006-197053 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication) sets forth such a technology that, in order to improve the detriment of the interrupted user, it is determined whether or not a new print job, newly inputted from the user's terminal device in mid course of implementing the current print job, is established as an urgent print job, and when determining that the new print job is established as the urgent print job, the number of paper sheets to be printed in the urgent print job is compared with the number of the residual paper sheets to be printed in the preceding print job, so as to conduct the controlling operation for banning the interrupting operation of the urgent print job.
Further, Tokkaihei 11-224168 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication) sets forth such a technology that, in the printing operation based on image data received via a facsimile or a print instruction and stored in a storage, in order to efficiently print documents having a high priority at a high efficiency rate, even in mid course of the mass printing operation, when the interruption conditions (upper limit of specified number of pages/upper limit of specified amount of data/upper limit of specified time, which are set by the user setting with respect to the preceding print job) for the preceding print job (image data for the printing operation being currently implemented) are fulfilled, the operation for determining whether or not the interruption printing should be implemented (determination of priority degrees of the preceding print job and the standby print job) is conducted on the basis of the priority attribute information (total number of pages to be printed, total amount of print data, user's information, etc., which are set by the user setting) that specifies the priority of the standby print job (image data that waits the printing operation).
According to the technology set forth in Tokkai 2006-197053, the availability of the interruption printing is determined only by employing the number of paper sheets to be printed. However, such the determination that is made by only a single factor as abovementioned has not been sufficient for optimizing the beneficial balance between the interrupted user and the interrupting user.
Further, according to the technology set forth in Tokkaihei 11-224168, the availability of the interruption printing is determined by employing the number of pages to be printed and the amount of print data in the standby print job. However, even in this technology, since the determination is made by each of the factors in the result, this technology has been also insufficient for optimizing the beneficial balance between the interrupted user and the interrupting user.
In order to optimize the abovementioned beneficial balance, it is necessary to take into account the quantitative factors, such as printing times of both the interrupted user side and the interrupting user side, and the qualitative factors, such as the priority degrees (importance degrees) of both of them, and it is desirable that the availability of the interruption printing is determined by employing such the complex factors.
Further, the conventional printing apparatus has been so constituted that the manual interruption printing function is activated by depressing an exclusive interruption button. Accordingly, the interruption printing function has been liable not to be used, unless the recognition degree of this function itself or the other recognition degree of its operational method is made to rise. Therefore, there has been still some room for improving the maneuverability of this function.